Hi all, just wanted to provide an alternate opinion on current state of the game. I played this game for 8 years. Stopped actively for about 3 to 5 years. Restarted again actively last month and managed to hit UC.

The state of the game today has been much healthier than before. The time when I stopped actively logging in, the game was so stagnant where season pass and cw2 was in place, but only one new card was being introduced every few months or so.

Steadily returning last few months was a challenging yet refreshing experience. Below are some opinions in mind.

Level 15: Negative. This is by far the hardest huddle since you have to be very active in league and seasonal modes to earn the seasonal tokens and EWC to level up. Not a fan of this and level 15 should not have been implemented just to increase the longevity of the game.

Evolutions: Positive. While FC dominated the meta (prior to May balances) at most leagues except the top ranked, evolutions brought in new play style and offer a chance to turn the tide during losing battle. (e.g. Evo Wizard can counter LumberLoon with its death blast pushing off the balloon)

Champions: Positive. This rarity was previously known as Heroes, a concept which was popular during the early days but was dismissed as devs were worry of it being too overpowered. While champion like LP is indeed dominating the meta right now, if played right, theres many interesting ways to utilize this card (e.g. Guardian launch and killing off gob barrel) and I think the devs do deserve some compliment on this.

Having only one champion at the field at a time also means you now have an option to cycle faster to your win condition or the card you wish to cast again.

Tower Rarity: Positive. As much as I have cursed at every single match I played against DD using Princess tower, I have to indeed admit that it forces you to change your play style when facing against DD (e.g. Being more defensive during single elixir and more aggressive when DD bar is empty).

I do agree that DD is still perhaps slightly op and is less punishing when making mistakes at its current state, we have to bear in mind that rarity still needs to be in place and legendary should not be nerfed to oblivion.

Leagues and trophy path: Neutral. The good thing about current state is the ease of climbing to UC with multipliers and golden steps in place.

In the past, game reset everyone at 4k trophies and it's a nightmare for low level players to push ladder in the first week. With multipliers in place, it's much more friendly and less stressful.

The downside is of course trophy and league inflation. UC was a holy grail in the past for the top ranked players. Hitting Royal champion can get you into top 10k. Now, UC is more accessible to everyone.

Cosmetic: Positive. Banners, badge display are good additions to the game. It offers a fresh look with cool and cute decorations in matches and at times makes you more alert when facing players displaying CRL winners badges.

Donations: Negative. Unfortunately all these new features come with a price. P2W has been worse. Season pass was a great introduction, but diamond pass diluted it's value. Launch offers which have you instant access to max out new cards are good idea to avoid random loot box issue, but it also increases the gap between F2P and P2W players. Evolution shards and champions highly blocked behind a paywall. (e.g. 6 months to earn 6 full wild shard)

Clan war: Neutral. V2 is still a bad brother of V1. However, V2 is less demanding and time consuming given the game is in its matured cycle. Given the choice though, I would wish for a return of V1.

Game modes: Negative. While there's are more variety of game modes now, the basic ones are still 1v1, 2v2, Clan war and draft. The other modes still feel irrelevant and do not offer any intriguing mechanics.

I vaguely recalled CR experiencing a resurgence of interest in the past when 2v2 first came out. My only hope is a new game mode (e.g. Similar to how COC added a builder base) that offers an entirely new take to how CR can be played. Even a '1v1v1 free for all' mode would be great to start with in my opinion.

Tldr: Overall state of game is good with new variaties that changes the gameplay. Many of you might hate the new features which makes it harder to get to the end game, but without these changes, the game would remain stagnant for years. I do however agree that P2W gap is worse now and there should have been easier path to get champions cards and shards.